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SKETCH OF THE LIFE
APOSTLE ELIOT,
PREFATORY TO A SUBSCRIPTION
ERECTING A MONUMENT
TO HIS MEMORY.
In arched walks of twilight groves, And shadows brown, of pine or oak, So many grateful altars, I would rear Of grassy turf; and pile up every stone, Of lustre, from the brook, in memory. Or monument to ages Milton.
BY HENRY A. S. DEARBORN.
ROXBURY: NORFOLK COUNTY JOURNAL PRESS.
OVER CENTRAL MARKET, 1850.
GIFT
31 A M U S S E
WUNNEETUPANATAMWE UP-BIBLUM GOD
NANEESWE
NUKKONE TESTAMENT
KAH WONK
WUSKU TESTAMENT.
NE aUOSHKINNUMUK NASIIPE ^VUTTINNEMOH CHRIST NOH ASOOWESIT
JOHN ELIOT.
CAMBRIDGE:
PRINTEUOOPNASflPE SAMUEL GREEN RAH MARMADllE JOHNSON.
1663.
[The title page of Eliot's Indian Bible.]
iv:890800
NEGONNE OOSUKKUHWHONK MOSES,
NE ASOWEETAMUK
GENESIS.
CHAP. I.
1 . Weske kutchinik ayum God kesuk kah Ohke.
2. Kah Ohke mo matta kuhkenauunneunkquttinnoo kah monteagunnmno, kah pohkenum woskeche moonoi, kah Nashauanit popomshau woikeche nippekontu.
3. Onk noowau God wequi, kah mo wequai.
4. Kah wmmaummi God wequai neen wunnegen ; kah -wntchadchanbeponummi God noeu wequai kah noeu poh- kenum.
5. Kah wutussowetamun God wequai kesukod, kah poh- kenum wutussoweetamun Nukon : kah mo wunnonkooook kah mo mohoompog negonne kesuk.
6. Kah noowau God sepakehtumooudj noeu nippekontu, kah chadchapemooudj nathauweit nippe wutch nippekontu.
7. Kah ayimup God sepakehtamoonk, kah wutchadeha- beponumunnap nashaueu nippe agwu, uttiyeu agwu se- pakehtamoonk, kah nashaueu nippekontu attiyeu ongkouwe sepakehtamoonk, kah monkonnih.
8. Kah wuttidoweetamun God sepakehtamoonk Kesuk- quath, kah mo wunnonkooook, kah mo mohtompog nahoh- toeu kesukok.
9. Kah noowa God moemooidjnip pe ut agwu kesuk quathkan pasukqunna, kah pahkemoidi nanabpeu, kah raonkoninih.
10. Kah wuttisoweetaman God nanabpiohke, kah moee- moonippe wuttissowetamun Kehtoh, &. wunnaumun God neen wunnegen. *
[Ten verses of the first chapter of Gekisis, copied from Eliot's Indian Bible.]
PROCEEDINGS OF A MEETING
FOR THE ERECTION OF A
MONUMENT TO THE APOSTLE ELIOT.
At a meeting of a number of the citizens of Roxbury, held on the evening of the sixth of April, 1850, for the pur- pose of devising measures to obtain funds, for erecting a Monument to the memory of the Rev. John Eliot, the first Pastor of the town and the earliest Missionary to the Indians, the Hon. Henry A. S. Dearborn having been elected Chairman, and J. Wingate Thornton, Esq., Secretary, the following resolutions were adopted.
1. Resolved^ That Henry A. S. Dearborn, George R. Rus- sell, Alvah Kittredge, Supply C. Thwing, William J. Rey- nolds, J. Wingate Thornton, and Stephen M. Weld, be a Committee to obtain subscriptions for the above named pur- pose, in such manner as they may deem most expedient ; and said Committee may add one or more persons, in each parish or ward to their number.
2. Resolved, That in the event sufficient funds cannot be procured, in the manner prescribed in the foregoing resolu- tion, said Committee is hereby authorized to request the pastors of the churches in Roxbury, to designate a day when they will deliver discourses on the life and character of Eliot, and recommend that contributions be made by their parishioners, in aid of the fund for the object above named.
3. Resolved, That when sufficient funds shall have been procured, the Commissioners of the Forest Hills Cemetery are hereby requested to cause a Monument to be erected in
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said Cemetery, in conformity to the plan which is in the possession of the Chairman of the Committee.
4. Resolved J That one thousand copies of the "Sketch of the Life of the Apostle Eliot, as prefatory to a subscription for erecting a Monument to his memory," be printed for dis- tribution among the citizens of this city, and other parts of the county, in such manner as the Committee may think proper.
5. Resolved, That Charles K. Dillaway, Esq., be the Treasurer, to receive such sums as may be collected for the purpose aforesaid, and to deliver the same to the Treasurer of the Board of Commissioners of Forest Hills Cemetery, to be expended by said Commissioners, for the erection of a Monument, in the manner designated in the third reso- lution.
H. A. S. DEARBORN, Chairman.
J. WiNGATE Thornton, Secretary. Roxhury, April 6th, 1850.
At a meeting of the Eliot Monument Committee, holden on the tenth of April, 1850, the following Resolutions were adopted.
1. Resolved, That the following named persons be added to the Committee : George W. Bond, Dudley Williams, Allen Putnam, William Whiting, John Allen, John L. Plummer, J. W. Parker, Levi Reed, J. W. Tucker, William G. Eaton, Joseph H. Curtis, Thomas Motley, James W. Converse, Joseph H. Billings, Abijah W, Draper, Linus B. Comins, Stephen Hammond, Calvin Young, and George James.
2. Resolved, That the following Sub-Committees be ap- pointed. Ward 1 ; Alvah Kittredge, Allen Putnam, Wil- liam Whiting. Ward 2 ; Supply C. Thwing, John Allen, John L. Plummer. Ward 3 ; William J. Reynolds, J. W. Parker, Levi Reed. Ward 4 ; J. Wingate Thornton, Joseph W. Tucker, William G. Eaton. Ward 5; Dudley Wil-
liams, Linus B. Comins, Stephen Hammond. Ward 6 ; George W. Bond, Calvin Young, George James. Ward 7 ; Stephen M. Weld, Joseph W. Curtis, Thomas Motley, James W. Converse. Ward 8; George R. Russell, Joseph H. Billings, Abijah W. Draper.
3. Resolved^ That as soon as the Sketch of the Life of Eliot is published, and subscription papers have been pre- pared, a sufficient number of each shall be delivered to the Sub-Committees, and subscriptions be commenced by them, in each of their respective Wards, as soon as practicable.
4. Resolved^ That the Chairman of the Eliot Committee be authorized to call meetings whenever he he may consider it expedient, or whenever requested so to do by the Sub- Committees.
H. A. S. DEARBORN, Chairman.
J. WiNGATE Thornton, Secretary. Roxhury^ April Wth, 1850.
The Monument is a Corinthian column, surmounted by a Funereal Urn, formed of New Jersey or Connecticut free- stone, or granite. Whole height, forty-two feet.
The fence is supported by Doric columns, of the same material as the Monument; the pales alternate Crosses and Arrows, as emblematical of Eliot's Christian office, and of the Indians for whom it was assumed.
On the front side of the pedestal of the colum, a basso- relievo of an open folio Bible, exhibiting the title page of Eliot's translation; the letters in intaglio and gilded. On the second side, the dates of the birth and death, and age of Eliot ; on the third side, the date of his ordination ; and on the fourth side, an inscription indicating by whom and when the Monument was erected.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE,
This sketch of the Life of Eliot has been compiled from the biographies of Mather, Adams, Moore and Francis, Tracts relating to the attempts to convert to Christianity the Indians of New England, Winthrop's History, Prince's Chronological History, Eliot's Biographical Dictionary, the Town and Church Records of Roxbury, an Address delivered on the Second Centennial Anniversary of the settlement of the Town, Ellis's History of Roxbury, Biglow's History of Natick, and facts communicated by J. W. Thornton, Esq.
H. A. S. DEARBORN.
Hawthorn Cottage, )
Roxbury, April 6th, 1850. )
SUBSCRIPTION
ERECTING A MONUMENT
COMMEMORATE THE NAME AND SERVICES
APOSTLE ELIOT,
IN FOREST HILLS CEMETERY.
On the second of November, 1631, the Rev. John Ehot arrived at Boston, in the ship Lyon, with Governor Win- throp's lady and children. He immediately joined the first church, and Mr. Wilson, the pastor, having gone to Eng- land for his family, he preached Avitli them mitil the autumn of 1632, when he was invited to take charge of the church in Roxbury; ''though Boston labored all they could, both with the congregation of Roxbury and with Mr. Eliot him- self, alledging their want of him, and the covenant between them. Yet he could not be diverted from accepting the call of Roxbury ; so he was dismissed."
Under his name, in the Roxbury Church Records, the following reasons are assigned for the preference given to that town.
'• His friends were come over and settled at Roxbury, to whom he was foreengaged, that if he were not called, be- fore they came, he was to join them : whereupon the Church at Roxbury called him to be their Teacher, in the end of summer, and soon after was ordained to that office. Also
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his intended wife, Hanna Mumford, came along with the rest of his friends, — she found him and soon after their coming, they were married."
But httle is known of Mr. Ehot before he left his native country. Nothing is related of his parents, except that they gave him a liberal education. It is said he was born at Na- sing, in the county of Essex, in 1604, and graduated at one of the English universities. On leaving college, he engaged in the respectable occupation of an instructor. Mr. Hooker, who subsequently emigrated to this country, and became one of the most eminent among the worthies of New Eng- land, having been silenced as a preacher, on account of his non-conformity, had established a grammar school at little Baddow, near Chelmsford, in Essex, and employed Eliot as an usher. But notwithstanding the interposition of forty- seven conforming clergymen on his behalf, Hooker was obliged to flee to Holland,* from the searching and vindic- tive tyrany of Laud ; and his assistant sought a refuge from persecution, in the new Western World, in the twenty- seventh year of his age.
Equally distinguished for learning, piety, and philan- thropy, that excellent man acquired the esteem and respect of his contemporaries, and left a name dear to his adopted country and illustrious throughout the world, as the first herald of Christianity to the savages of North America. His parochial duties were performed with zeal and fidelity, which evinced the purest principles of religion and the kindest feelings of benevolence. As a missionary, he re- linquished the endearments of civilized society, encountered the dangers of the wilderness, and participated in the priva- tions of the wild, precarious, and comfortless life of barba- rians. With such holy ardour and untiring perseverance did he prosecute his great and commendable labors, as to have acquired the exalted title of "The Apostle to the Indians."
To qualify himself for that high office, and render his services most acceptable, useful and efficient, he learned
* From Holland he eame to Massachusetts, and was the pastor of the first church in Cambridge, but afterwards removed, with his church, to Hartford in Connecticut.
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the Indian language ; and for accomplishing that important object, he secured the assistance of one of the natives, who could speak English, by the name of Job Nesutan, who belonged to a Long Island tribe, and had been taken in the Pequott war. Eliot taught him to write, which he quickly learned.
In 1675, there were about fifty thousand Indians in New England. When the settlements were first commenced there were five principal nations in Massachusetts, Connec- ticut, and Rhode Island, each of which included several tribes ; the Narragan setts, Pequotts, Panekunnawkuts, Pawtuckets, and Massachusetts, who formerly could mus- ter nineteen thousand warriors ; but in 1674, only eighteen hundred and fifty. The whole number in all the tribes was less than nine thousand, of whom three thousand six hun(J^ed were ''praying Indians."
The first effort to civilize the savages was an order of the General Court, in 1646, for promoting the diff'usion of Christianity among them, and the elders =^ of all the churches were requested to consider how it might best be effected, when Eliot was employed, as being eminently qualified to perform the difficult and arduous duties of a missionary ; but the funds were chiefly furnished by an association in England. The first time he officiated was at a place called Nonantum by the Indians, as it signifies rejoicing. There was the camp of Wabon, a principal chief It was situated on a hill in Newton, near the Kenricks' nurseries, and where the late learned and venerated Dr. Freeman had a country seat.
In 1750, Mr. Eliot obtained a grant of land at Natick, which means a place of hills, for the purpose of there as- sembling the Indians, and building houses and organizing a town government for them.
He frequently visited the Indians at Quaboag, now Brook- field, Cape Cod, Plymouth, those on Merrimac river, and in New Hampshire and elsewhere, to instruct them in
* One of whom was Isaac Heath, who was an eminent elder of Eliot *s church* and was ever a confidential friend and adviser, in cases of difficulty.
2
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piety ; but when the King Phihp War began, he had great difficuhies to encounter, in consequence of the excitement of the people against all the Indians, not excepting those under his immediate superintendence.
Philip was a brave, sagacious, and able chief — the Na- poleon of his race. He had imbibed a dread of, and hatred to the Europeans from the landing of the Pilgrims, and as soon as his father died, — the honest, generous and ever kind and faithful Massasoit, he formed a combination, of not only all the tribes in New England, but the Six Nations of New York, and those as far South as Pennsylvania, for the purpose of waging a furious war against the whites, as he had discovered that his people must inevitably dis- appear from the earth, from the rapid increase of the emigrants, or the latter be utterly exterminated. His lofty and imperial spirit was strikingly exemplified in his aifswer to the Governor of Massachusetts : "I will not treat, except with my brother king Charles of England." Like his father Massasoit, he would neither adopt the Christian re- ligion himself, nor permit it to be introduced among his subjects. Eliot having offered to preach to the Indians, in his presence, he rejected the proposition with disdain, and taking hold of a button on the Apostle's coat, observed : "I care no more for the Gospel, than for that button."
When the war began, the Indians who were supposed to be united with the colonists by religious sympathy, found no mercy at the hands of Philip ; while on the other hand, the English began to regard them with stern suspicion and apprehension, having no confidence in their fidelity. Under this powerful influence Eliot's hapless converts suf- fered the harshest injustice ; it being their hard fate to have the good will of neither party. This want of confidence in the fidelity of Eliot's disciples, was perfectly natural, for a fierce and powerful enemy was roving the country, and lighting up the darkness of midnight, by the conflagration of the houses of the scattered population and slaughtering, with remorseless wrath, men, women and children, and the passions of the whole people were consequently exasperated to the highest pitch, against the entire Indian race.
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From this universal excitement, the General Court was impelled to pass an order, that the Indians at Natick should be forthwith removed to Deer Island, in Boston harbor ; and Captain Thomas Prentiss, with a party of horse, was appointed to enforce the removal. There were about two hundred. They were ordered to a place called the Pines, on Charles river, two miles above Cambridge, where boats were in readiness to receive them. There their spiritual father and faithful friend met them, to sympathise in their sorrows, and exhort them to be patient under sufferings, which he had vainly endeavored to avert, by the most elo- quent appeals to the magnanimity and mercy of the govern- ment, and assurances of his entire confidence in their fidelity, and friendly cooperation against a common enemy.
As the boats moved from the shore, that venerable man, on whose head more than seventy winters had shed their frosts, poured forth fervent prayers, in behalf of his much wronged and disconsolate children of the wilderness. About midnight, on the thirteenth of October, 1675, they were transferred to three vessels and transported to their destina- tion, on Deer Island.
The slightest occurrence was enough to kindle the pas- sions of the colonists into outrage. A barn filled with hay and grain having been burnt, in Chelmsford, by some In- dians of the hostile party, as it was afterwards ascertained, the inhabitants at once imputed the crime to the Christian Indians of Wamesit, and determined on revenge. Fourteen armed men went to their camp, and called to them to come out, and not suspecting any harm, they appeared, when they were fired upon, and a boy was killed and five women and children wounded. The murderers were arrested and tried, but under the influence of popular exasperation they were acquitted. The band was so frightened, by this brutal assault, that the settlement was nearly abandoned, the refugees seeking safety in the forests. Attempts were made to induce them to return, but the remembrance of the cruel attack which had been made upon them, prevented an acquiesence; and in a letter to Lt. Henchman of Chelmsford, was this just rebuke to men, who called them-
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selves Christians: "We are not sorry, for what we leave behind ; but we are sorry, that the English have driven us from our praying to God, and from our teacher. We did begin to understand a little of praying to God."
At length winter and hunger drove them back to their wigwams, when a committee, consisting of Eliot, Major Gookin, and Major Willard, was appointed to visit them, with a message of friendship and encouragement. They also visited the Nashobah Indians at Concord, who were placed under their firm friend, John Hoare.
The Sachem Wannalancet, who had retired some dis- tance from his usual residence, on the Merrimac, still con- tinued faithful, and Eliot and Gookin were sent on an embassy to urge him to return to his accustomed place of residence, and in a letter to Boyle, Eliot observed : " We had a Sachem of the greatest blood in the country, who fled by reason of the wicked acting of the English, who basely killed and wounded some of them ; but he was per- suaded to come in again."
The Indians of Punkapog, now Stoughton, on some slight pretence, were also removed and others from various places, to Deer and Long Islands, which increased the number there assembled to five hundred, who were ex- posed to much suffering during the winter. Eliot and the ever humane and gallant Gookin and other philanthropic persons visited them during the winter, to cheer them under their afflictions and administer to their wants, as far as it was possible.
A corps of Christian Indians was however employed in the summer of 1676, in the army against Philip, and Goo- kin states that they "had taken and slain, not less than four hundred of the enemy, and that their fidelity and cour- age was testified by their captains."
Soon after that campaign, the General Court gave per- mission for the removal of the Indians from Deer and Long Islands. They were taken to Cambridge, where Thomas Oliver kindly offered them a temporary place of residence on his land. Many of them were very ill, at the time of their removal, and the assiduous and never wearied efforts
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of Eliot and his constant colaborator, Major Gookin, in acts of beneficence, were called into perpetual exercise, in providing them with medicine and food and raiment. This Major Gookin, who was the constant friend and com- panion of Eliot in many of his most difficult expeditions, was one of the most prominent men of the age in Avhich he lived. He received a liberal education, frequently repre- sented Roxbury in the Legislature, was many years Speaker, and became distinguished as a Major General in the militia.
The brave and able chief of the confederated savages, the renowned king Philip, having been defeated and slain, and the war thus ended, the Christian Indians were re- moved from Cambridge to near the falls of Charles River, where one of their own teachers built a large council-house, in which religious and other meetings were held, and Eliot preached to them once a fortnight.
Having devoted much of his time in learning the Indian language, and in translating various works for the use of his disciples, they were printed by Samuel Green, who ar- rived with the colonists under Governor Winthrop. He came in the ship with Thomas, afterwards Governor Dud- ley, and lodged in an empty cask until a more commodious shelter could be obtained. He established, in Cambridge, the first printing press in this country, which was placed under the direction of the President of the College. He had thirty children ; nineteen by his first, and eleven by his second wife. His son Benjamin published the first paper in North America, in 1704. It was called the News Letter.
The New Testament was published in 1661, and the Old in 1663. They were bound in one volume, to which were added a catechism and the Psalms of David in Indian verse, being a translation of the New England version pre- pared for the churches a few years before. A copy of this Bible was handsomely bound and sent to King Charles II.
The press-work was done and the proof-sheets corrected by a young Indian named James, who was born in the In- dian town of Hassanamesitt, now Grafton. He was taught to write, and read English, at the Indian school in Cam-
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bridge, and instructed in the art of Printing by Green, who gave him the sirname of Printer.
Two editions of the Bible were pubhshed ; the first of 1500, and the second of 2000, copies.
The other works translated by Eliot, and printed, were a Psalter, which was published in 1641, a catechism, in 1653, Baxter's Call to the Unconverted, in 1664, a Grammar, in 1664, a Logic Primmer, in 1672, The Practice of Piety, by L. Bayly, Chaplain to James I., in 1685, a Primmer, of which there were four editions, and the last in 1687, and The Sound Believer and Shepard's Sincere Convert, bound together, in 1689.
The translation of the Bible into the Indian language is one of the most wonderful events in the history of litera- ture ; for no attempt had before been made to produce a version of that book, in any language other than that spo- ken by the translators, or one that was as well known, from a study of the numerous written volumes, which had rendered it immortal.
The first translation of the Old Testament, from the He- brew, was a Greek version, called the " Septuagint," from a tradition that it was made by seventy-two Jewish inter- preters, at Alexandria, in Egypt, during the reign of Ptole- my Philadelphus, in the third century before the Christian era. Jesephus states that the High Priest Eleazer selected six learned men out of each of the twelve tribes of Judea, and sent them with the holy volume to Egypt, at the re- quest of the sovereign of that country, to make the transla- tion ; but later authors have suggested that the translators were possibly Jews of Alexandria, who had long resided there and learned the Greek language.
The next version was the "Vulgate," also called ''the old Italic," or "Vulgar Latin," which was translated for the use of the people who spoke that language.
An Italian translation, including the New Testament, was executed, towards the close of the thirteenth century, by James de Varagine, Arch-Bishop of Genoa.
The most ancient French Bible is that of Guiars de Mau- lins, which was printed in 1498.
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The German Bible was translated by Luther with the assistance of Melancthon, and other of his friends, in 1534.
The earhest EngUsh copy of the Old Testament was by the persecuted herald of the Reformation, John Wickliffe. It was completed in 13S0, but was not published, as the art of printing was not discovered and used until 1450 — 55. Numerous manuscrript copies, however, were made, and many beautiful samples still exist, from one of which, after the lapse of four hundred and sixty-five years, an edition was, for the first time, published, in 1845, by one of the English universities.
The first printed English translation was undertaken by William Tyndale ; but he was obliged to go to the Nether- lands to accomplish his work, where he was aided by John Fryth and John Rogers, who were burnt for heresy in Smith- field, and William Roye, who suffered on the same account in Portugal. It was printed entire in 1537. He had pre- viously translated the New Testament, and numerous copies were clandestinely introduced into England ; but to prevent their distribution among the people, the infamous Tunstall, Bishop of London, employed secret agents to purchase all that could be found, and committed them to the flames, at St. Paul's Cross ; and Tyndale was basely seized and exe- cuted in 1536, at Augsburg, by the instigation of the British sovereign. His Bible was not allowed to be introduced into England, until a hundred years after the invention of printing.
Miles Coverdale published a translation from the Dutch, in folio, in 1535. It was dedicated to Edward VI., who advanced him to the see of Exeter, but he was ejected by Mary.
A revised translation of the Bible was published in 1568, which was prepared by a number of learned men, and a majority of them being bishops, it was called the " Bishops Bible."
The last English Bible was ''King James's." In 1603 that monarch commissioned fifty-four eminent scholars, of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and other places, to make a new and more correct translation, which
20
was published in 1611, and is the only one which has been since used in Great Britain and this country.
But Eliot's labors were far greater than those of any of the translators in Germany, France, and England, for they had not only the facilities afforded by copies of the Bible in Latin, which was the conventional language of the priests and students of Europe, and the aid of their cotemporaries in Biblical learning, but their versions were substitutions of their vernacular tongue for one which was equally as well known ; while his was in an unwritten and hitherto un- known language, which he was first obliged to learn, and after his Bible was published, to establish schools and pre- pare a grammar and other books for instructing the savages to read it ; and in all these arduous duties he had no assist- ant but an Indian boy. Thus a humble and modest, yet faithful and zealous pastor, of a small Christiain communi- ty, on the shores of a vast continent, which was then al- most an entire wilderness, alone achieved a work which excited the wonder and admiration of both hemispheres, and has rendered his name ever memorable in the annals of literature and piety.
The exalted estimation, which had been formed in Eu- rope, of the character and services of this Evangelist of the savages, may be inferred from the fact, that Leusden, the Professor of Hebrew in the University of Utrecht, and one of the most distinguished scholars of the age, dedicated his "Hebrew — English Psalter, to the very Reverend and pious John Eliot, the indefatigable and faithful minister of Rip- pou, and Venerable Apostle of the Indians in America ; who had translated and published, in the American tongue, by an Atlaean Labour, the Bible ; and first preached the Word of God to the Americans in the Indian tongue." That " Book of the Psalms" was published in London, in 1668.
In a letter to Charles II., accompanying a copy of the Bible which he presented to that monarch, he states " that though there be in this Western World many colonies of other European nations, yet we humbly conceive no Prince hath had a return of such a work as this. The Southern Colonies of the Spanish nation have sent home much gold
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and silver' as the fruit and end of their discoveries : that we confess is a scarce commodity in this colder climate ; but, suitable to the ends of our undertaking, we present this, and other concomitant fruits of our poor endeavors to plant and propagate the gospel here ; which upon a true account is as much better than Gold as the Souls of men are more worth than the whole world. This is a nobler fruit of Columbus's adventure, and indeed, in the counsels of All-Disposing Providence, was an higher intended end."
It is also remarkable that no edition of the Bible in the English language was printed in North America until that of Kneeland and Green of Boston, in 1782, being a hun- dred and nineteen years after Eliot's was published. This very singular fact attracted the special attention of Ander- son, the author of an interesting work recently published in England, called the ''Annals of the English Bible." He states that, " the authorities at home would never permit of a single edition being printed, except within this land ; and one of the most notable circumstances in the times of Roger Williams, John Eliot, Cotton Mather, Jonathan Edwards, David Brainard, and many other venerable, laborious and useful characters, was this, that not one of these men ever perused any other than an Imported English Bible."
Eliot's whole life was devoted to the amelioration of the condition of all ranks in society. His anxious disposition to promote education was demonstrated in such an emphat- ic manner, as that the past generations of one section of Roxbury had, and those of all future ages will have suffi- cient cause to bless him ; for he made a grant of land, " for the maintainance and encouragement of a School at Jamai- ca Pond or Plain," in 1689, the annual income of which now amounts to a large sum, and will be very considerably increased, when all the land shall have been sold.
Amiable, unostentatious, and parental, he was as remark- able for his humility, disinterestedness, and generosity, as for his intellectual attainments and exemplary deportment. His parishioners were his children, and they venerated him as a father. So universally was he respected, and so im- portant were his services considered, that Mather remarks, 3
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" There was a tradition among us, that the country could never perish so long as Eliot was alive."
Richard Baxter, the celebrated English clergyman, in a letter to Eliot, a few years before his decease, thus express- es his opinion of his labors : " There is no man on earth whose work I consider more honorable than yours. The industry of the Jesuits and friars, and their successes in Congo, Japan, and China, shame us all, save you."
"I think," said Shepard, who knew Eliot well, ''that we can never love and honor this man of God enough."
When he became old and could no longer preach, and knowing that Roxbury had cheerfully supported two min- isters by voluntary contributions for a long time, he re- quested permission to relinquish his annual compensation. "I do here," said this venerable teacher, "give up my sal- ary to the Lord Jesus Christ ; and now brethren, you may fix that upon any man that God shall make a Pastor." But the society informed him that they considered his pres- ence worth any sum granted for his support, even if he were superanuated, so as to do no further service for them.
Eliot's charity was a very prominent trait in his charac- ter, and he frequently gave more than he could afford, for his own family often suffered for the necessaries of life.
The treasurer of the parish, on paying him his annual salary, and knowing well his lavish expenditures for the relief of others, put the money in a handkerchief, and tied it in as many hard knots as possible, in hopes thus to com- pel him to carry it all home. On his way thither he called to see a poor sick woman, and on entering, he gave the family his blessing, and told them that God had sent them some relief He then began to untie the knots, but after many efforts to do so, and impatient at the perplexity and delay to get at his money, he gave the whole to the mother, saying with a trembling accent, "Here, my dear, take it; I believe the Lord designs it all for you."
When a minister complained to him of the injurious treatment of some of his parishioners, he replied : " Brother, learn the meaning of these three little words, — hear ^ Jar- bear^ and forgive.''^
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He said to some students, who were not early risers : " I pray look to it, that you be morning birds."
As he was walking in his garden, with a friend, he began to pull up the weeds, when his friend said to him ; " you tell us we must be heavenly-minded." Eliot replied ; ''It is true ; and this is no impediment unto that ; for were I sure to go to Heaven to-morrow, I would do what I do to-day."
Cotton Mather states that his manner of preaching was very plain, yet powerful. His delivery graceful ; but when he reproved immoral and sinful conduct, his voice rose into great warmth and energy. He said to a minister who had delivered a well- written sermon, " There is aid required for the service of the sanctuary, but it must be well beaten. I praise God that yours was so well beaten to-day."
Eliot continued to preach as long as his strength lasted. With slow and feeble steps he ascended the hill on which his church was situated, and once observed to the person on whose arm he leaned; " This is very much like the road to Heaven ; 'tis up hill; the Lord by his grace fetch us up."
Frugal and temperate through a long life he never had indulged in the luxuries of the table. His drink was water ^ and he said of wine; " It is a noble, generous liquor, and we should be humbly thankful for it ; but, as I remember, ivater was made before it." Thus, among his other good deeds, he taught, by precept and example, the importance of that Temperance^ which now wages such an honorable crusade against the deleterious, demoralizing and ruinous vice of inebriety.
While death was fast approaching, and a friend inquired how he was, he replied; "Alas! I have lost everything; my understanding leaves me ; my memory fails me ; but I thank God, my charity holds out still : I find that rather grows, than fails."
A short time before his death Mr. Walten, his colleague having called to see him, he said: "You are welcome to my very soul ; but retire to your study, and pray that I may have leave to be gone."
Having presided over the church of Roxbury for nearly
24
sixty years, this reverend pastor calmly ended his earthly existence, on the twentieth of May, 1690, in the eighty- sixth year of his age.
He lived nearly opposite Thomas Dudley's house, on the other side of the brook, in the rear of the spot on which Guild's Hall stands.
Governor Thomas Dudley's mansion was taken down in 1775, and a fort was erected on the site, which is now oc- cupied by the Universalist Church. He first settled in Cam- bridge, but removed to Ipswich, and soon after came to Roxbury. His son. Governor Joseph Dudley, and grand- son Paul Dudley, who was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, lived and died in Roxbury. Paul Dudley placed the mile-stones, now to be seen in many parts of the town, with his initials (P. D.) cut upon them.
Eliot's remains were placed in what was called the Ministers^ Tomh^ in the first burying ground. It was built in the manner described in the following deposition of Captain William Heath and Martha Gary, which was sworn to before Paul Dudley and Samuel Sewell, on the seventh of June, 1725, and is inserted in the Town Re- cords.
" Mr. William Bowen, brother of Mr. Henry Bo wen, late of Roxbury, was taken by the Turks, and it was proposed to ye Congregation, met in Roxbury, a contribution for his redemption, and the people went generally to the public box, young and old ; but before the money could answer the end, for which the Congregation intended it, the people of this place were informed that Mr. Bowen was dead, and the money that the town had given for his redemption, was restored to ye Congregation again, and put into the hands of Deacon Gyles Pearson, as we were informed. About the same time good old Mrs. Eliot lay at the point of death, [the wife of the pastor.] It was then agreed upon by our heads and leader, with the consent of others, that the above named contribution money should be improved to build a Tomb for the town, to inter their ministers, as occasion should require, and that old Mrs. Eliot, for the great ser- vice she had done for the town, should be put into said
25
tomb. Robert Sharp, certain, and we think Nathaniel Wilson' were employed, by the Deacons Pearson and Gary and others concerned, to build said tomb. But before the tomb was finished the good old gentlewoman was dead, and the first the town admitted into said tomb. Some months after, Benjamin Eliot, [a son of the Apostle] died. He had preached and expounded the word of God to us a long time, and the town admitted him into said tomb.
" About three or four years after our Reverend Father, Mr. John Eliot left us, and the town laid him in said tomb ; and the tenth of last January, our Revd. Pastor, Mr. Thomas Walter died, and the town at their own charge, interred him in the tomb belonging to the town. We hear there were divers others put into the said tomb ; but we never knew by what right or order."
At the anniversary town meeting, holden on the seventh of March, 1725 — 6, a memorial was presented by Major John Bowles, in which he claimed "aright in the town tomb, as his ancestors were interred there, and that the de- scendants had since kept it in repair," and requested that " a committee might be chosen to prosecute him in the laws by a writ of ejectment, or any other way, that might be thought proper, that the matter in controversy might be put upon its right basis."
The subject was referred to Daniel Oliver, Jonathan Remington, Oxenbridge Thatcher, on the part of the town, and Henry Dering and Daniel Henchman on the part of Major Bowles, who reported on the twelfth of May, 1726, "that it appeared, the descendants of Ana [Hanna] Eliot, wife of John Eliot, were at some expense of the charge, in building the tomb and have since kept it in repair, and always have improved it, as they had occasion for burying their dead, without molestation," and they, therefore, were of opinion that said descendants should have "the right to improve it in burying their dead ; " and that " the charge arising for repairs for the future be equally borne by the town of Roxbury and the descendants of Eliot."
This report was accepted in town meeting.
By a bill of the expenses paid by the town, on file in the
26
City Clerk's office, for the funeral of Mr. Walter, it appears that the remains of Eliot and of all other persons who had previously been deposited there, were collected and put in a box.
Eliot's wife was distinguished for her piety, domestic virtues and benevolent disposition, and was highly respect- ed by all classes of the people. She had sufficient skill in medicine and surgery to enable her, in common cases, to administer to the sick and wounded, with great success, and was ever ready and glad to use her knowledge as an instrument of charity. She died three years before her husband, on the twenty-fourth of March, 1687, in the eighty-fourth year of her age. This event was a deep affliction to her husband. She who had been bound to him by the strong ties of early love, had been his solace amidst toil and trial, and was truly called ''the staff of his age," had fallen by his side. Bowed down by the weight of more than four score years, and having ever been de- pendent upon her for the entire management of his house- hold, her death smote heavily upon the heart of that vener- able man ; and as he stood weeping beside the coffin of her, with whom he had lived so long and so happy, he said to the concourse of people who had assembled to do honor to her obsequies; "Here lies my dear, faithful, pious, prudent and prayerful wife. I shall go to her ; but she shall not return to me."
They had six children; one daughter, who was the eldest, and five sons. Only the daughter and one son sur- vived them. The others died young or in middle age. The frequent and grievous disappointment of parental hopes, were borne with Christian submission. ''I have had," he said, " six children; and I bless God for his grace, they are all either with Christ or in Christ, and my mind is at rest concerning them. My desire was that they should have served God on earth ; but if God will choose to have them rather serve him in heaven, I have nothing to object to it, but his will be done."
His youngest son studied divinity, and assisted his father for some time in the ministry.
ar
111 the year 1633, Thomas Weld was appointed a col- league with Eliot, but having been sent to England, with the celebrated Hugh Peters, by the Province, in 1641, he never returned, and Avas succeeded by Samuel Danforth, who continued in office twenty-four years. Nehemiah Walter, who was born in Ireland, came to Boston at the age of sixteen, and having graduated at Harvard College, and studied divinity, was settled as Eliot's third colleague, on the seventeenth day of October, 1688, and succeeded him as pastor. His son Thomas became his colleague in 1718, but died seven years after, in 1725. He published an elementary work on vocal music, which was long used in New England. The father died September 17th, 1750, aged eighty-seven.
Oliver Peabody succeeded Walter, but continued only eighteen months, and died on the eve of being married, in the twenty-seventh year of his age.
Amos Adams was the next pastor, for twenty-two years, and was succeeded by Eliphalet Porter who continued fifty-one years. The present pastor, the Rev. Doctor George Putnam was ordained on the seventh of July, 1830.
All these worthy pastors, who died in Roxbury, were interred in the Ministers' Tomb.
When it is considered how eminently useful and mereto- rious were the various and distinguished services which the Apostle Eliot rendered to his adopted country, in the cause of humanity, religion and morals, and how remarkable were his early and long continued efforts and generous aid for extending the advantages of education in his own and all coming ages, justice prompts to an emphatic recognition of such signal benefits ; and a proper respect for his exem- plary clerical deportment, great intellectual attainments, and extensive literary contributions, as one of the earliest authors in the Western World, seems to render it a sacred and incumbent duty of the citizens of this State, and of those of Roxbury in a special manner, to evince their right- ful appreciation of his worth, by commemorating his name and character, in the erection of a suitable monument, in some public position of the City ; for it never can be for-
28
gotten, that it was to those adventurous bands of Pilgrims, who laid the deep and broad foundations of Civil and Religious Liberty, on the bleak and wild shores of New England, that we are indebted for the unexampled bless- ings which we enjoy, as a Free and Independent Nation ; and among the illustrious Pioneers of those bold and adventurous fraternities, that were marshaled under the banners of the moral heroes who landed at Plymouth, Salem and Boston, there were none who more merited the grati- tude of the descendants of that much wronged, long suffer- ing, yet unsubdued, undismayed, energetic and persevering race of men, than the Patriarch of this ancient town.
Is it not, then, fit and expedient, after the lapse of more than two centuries since Eliot was ordained, and one hundred and sixty years since his decease, that there should be a decided exemplification of the exalted estimation in which his long and laborious services are held, and the profound veneration which is entertained for the first and time- honored herald of the Christian Religion to the primeval inhabitants of this vast Republic : and as the Commissioners of Forest Hills Cemetery have designated the beautiful heights on its western border as the Eliot Hills, and liber- ally reserved one of the most elevated as a site for a Ceno- taph, or other appropriate sepulchral structure, in the full belief that ample funds for such a holy and patriotic object, would be contributed at an early period ; and in the execu- tion of which, they have expressed an anxious and zealous disposition, to render all the services in their power to extend — therefore.
We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, promise most cheerfully, to pay the sums opposite thereto, for the re- moval of the remains of the Apostle Eliot to Forest Hills Cemetery, and the erection of a Monument over them, under the direction of the Commissioners of that sacred Garden of the Dead.
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SUBSCRIBERS
As an appropriate caption, to the names of the contribu- tors, for the erection of the Monument, it is gratifying to state the following very remarkable and interesting occurrence.
A few days before the preceding Sketch of the Life of Eliot was printed, Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh, or Copway, a Missionary of the Ojibway Tribe* of Indians, called upon the author, and stated that while on a tour through the east- ern states, he came to Roxbury, for the express purpose of visiting the tomb of the Apostle. He evinced a thorough knowledge of the character and the eminent services which Eliot had rendered to the aborigines ; and when informed of the measures which had been adopted for doing honor to his memory, he expressed the deepest solicitude, that they should be crowned with success, and volunteered his aid, so far as he was enabled to do so, in the accomplishment of that object.
He having intimated a desire to possess an engraving of the proposed monument, which had been executed to embel- ish the Life of Eliot, one was given to the Secretary of the Eliot Monument Committee, to present to him, with the following note.
*They are one of the bands of the large Algonquin or Chippawa nation, whose territory extends from Gononaque in Upper Canada to the sources of the Mississippi, and includes Lake Superior. There are numerous bands, and their aggregate popu- lation has been estimated to amount to 30,000, — five thousand of which are in Canada.
4
30
Hawthorn Cottage
Roxhury^ June 23, 1850. My Dear Sir:
I enclose a copy of the engraving of the Ehot Monu- ment, in a note to the Chippawa Missionary, which I will thank you to give to him.
I wish you to inform him, I consider it a propitious co-incidence, that while a sketch of the life of Eliot was being printed, a Christian Indian Chief should come from the far North-west, to behold the sepulchre of the Apostle of the aboriginal race of North America, and be the first subscriber to the fund for erecting a monument to com- memorate the services of that venerated man ; and that the first proof engraving of the monument should be presented to an Indian Disciple of the modern John the Baptist, to the Gentiles of this continent.
I requested the engraver to introduce an Indian pointing to the monument, and how singular it is, that an Indian should appear, at this time, to do honor to the manes of Eliot, more than two centuries after he commenced the duties of a Christian Father to the Indians, and one hun- dred and sixty years since his decease. Your sincere friend,
H. A. S. DEARBORN.
J. WiNGATE Thornton, Esq.,
Sec'y of the Eliot Monument Committee.
Boston^ June 25th, 1850. Gen. H. a. S. Dearborn :
Sir: — I am happy to acknowledge the receipt of the Lithograph you were so kind as to send me, of the pro- posed Monument to the memory of one of the greatest of men — John Eliot — the Apostle to the North American Indians.
I have, heretofore, woridered why the Christian public
31
did not do something of this kind before, since their miUtary heroes have been deified, who fell martyrs in the field of battle, while struggling for Freedom. Column after column has been erected in different parts of the country, over their sacred dust. It is gratifying to me to see that the impera- tive duty which is upon us, is now to be obeyed; for Christians and the sons of Piety are to erect a monument to Christian moral worth.
This is a sure sign that the sentiment which prevails every where in other lands, to some extent, is here also in- creasing. This will be a lasting memento before your children and our children, what true greatness is; and would to God, that while they are under its shadow, the self-sacrificing spirit which was in Eliot, might be felt by them, for the moral elevation of man and glory to the Great Spirit.
While the localities of the labors of the Apostle were shown to me, my natural stern character was overcome, and I could pour out tears of joy as well as grief, over the ground where it is said he walked and knelt with the red man. My mind was carried back two hundred years, and I could see John Eliot bending over the Forest Child, while he sought the guidance of the Great Spirit, and whispering in his ears — "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This sweetest of sentences, this gentlest of truths, this purest of God's own design, elevated the mind of the Indians. Yes, absorbed in thought, it appeared to me that I could see into the future, while angels held up the curtain of time, and that I could behold group after group around Eliot the Apostle, in the home of the blessed in Heaven.
I need not mention his love of literature, — his zeal for it remains before us — his translations of the Bible and other works, — a monument of itself, what Christian Heroism can accomplish.
Should I be successful, in securing a Home for my brethren in the North West, it has been my intention to erect two qolumns of granite to the sacred memory of two
32
of the best friends, in years gone by, of the Indians — John EHot and Wilham Penn.
I understand you are about opening a subscription for the erection of the proposed monument ; please, therefore, to put me down for twenty-five dollars towards it. I shall deem it a privilege, which none in fact, of my race enjoy, in being able to give a small mite for such a noble object.
I have the honor to be.
Your humble and ob't servant,
KAH-GE-GA-GAH-BOWH,
Or, Firm-Standing,
Alias G. COPWAY,
Of the Ojibway Nation.
14 DAY USE
RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED
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